Another Time, Another Day
by TrinityChaos66
Summary: Sometimes we can be happy and sometimes the luck just isn't in our favor. Zosan Secret Valentine gift for kyuunonana (or septdeneuf).


**This is for the Zosan Secret Valentine thing going on on Tumblr. My valentine was the lovely kyuunonana (or septdeneuf, as she's known here). Talk about nerve-wrecking. Anyway, she asked for angst and I...sort of...provided that? **

**I hope you enjoy this!  
**

* * *

In this world, their daughter is just turning six.

She wants a party and Sanji is only happy to oblige. He, of course, will do all of the cooking. Nothing but the best for his sweet princess.

She whines at him to stop calling her that.

She asks her other father, after he comes home from his work out. She bats her big eyes and pouts and her father rolls his eyes at the display but agrees anyway.

Her fathers discuss the plans in the kitchen, she can hear them from the other room. Their voices are loud but she's used to it already and simply hums her little tune a little louder.

It goes quiet in the kitchen and she smiles, knowing that, were she to walk into the room at that moment, she'd find them wrapped up in each other.

/

In this world, Sanji has the worst job imaginable.

Working minimum wage for too many hours of the day for too many days of the week. Customers were the bane of his existence and he wonders how in the world anyone could be so stupid. It was like the IQ dropped for anyone who walked through those gas station's store doors.

The only highlights of Sanji's days were when the green-haired punk came by in his shitty, beat up bicycle and demanded Sanji to sell him booze when he was clearly underage.

/

In this world, they go down in history.

Zoro had been a soldier, one who's skill and bravery earned him a reputation that spread across the war. Stories of the demon soldier were passed around the camp fire to scare all the new recruits.

"_If he catches you, death is guaranteed,"_

Zoro's name was put down in history books for his mission to enter enemy lines alone, a suicide mission that could turn the tides of the war. And it did; at the cost of his own life.

Zoro became known for his courage, Sanji became known as the name on the only letters Zoro ever received.

/

In this world, Sanji's not suppose to feel anything.

He was programmed to be as work efficient as possible, his work being in the kitchens. He was made to work as long as it was needed, no distractions, no breaks, no unnecessary thoughts or feelings.

Such was the life of a machine.

But every once and a while when Sanji is exploring the white, pristine halls, he will come across a male human. An unusual breed of the species with his green hair and gold eyes. He will see him, flustered and completely in denial of being lost, and wonder if the warm feeling in his chest is what it means to feel human.

/

In this world, they have all the time in the world.

That is to say, they have no time at all. Death looms over them constantly, with every cough and every ache, but it all means nothing to them anymore.

They've run out of sand in their hourglasses but they've found each other and they can finally start living.

/

In this world, he is a prince.

A prince that vows to chase away the demon that plagues the forest that surrounds his kingdom. He's surprised to learn that the demon is not a horrid creature of hell but instead a man. Although, to be fair, the man certainly has the attitude and manners one would expect from a no-good demon.

Despite their constant bickering and disagreements, the prince always found the time (and the excuse) to visit the demon's forest.

/

In this world, they're drunk.

It's a drunken mistake that leaves them sweating, panting, and groaning for more. In the morning, the reminders only serve to worsen their pounding hang-overs and the two come to an awkward agreement to leave it all behind them.

It was also a silent agreement that neither really regretted their actions.

/

In this world, there's nothing.

No feelings, no touches, not even an introduction.

They're strangers on the street, every morning they walk past the other in their rush to get to their destinations. One day, they bump shoulders, pushed together by the crowd, and they glance at each other to mumble an apology.

But there's nothing.

/

In this world, he's lost himself to nerves.

He tries to tell himself that it was stupid to be nervous because they got hurt all the time, especially that idiot swordsman, but they always managed to come out of it alive.

But seeing the swordsman bloodied and beaten and standing stock still had caused panic to bubble up in his chest and the tightening of his heart was still present as he stared at Zoro's bandaged body on the medical cot.

And when Zoro finally woke up and after Sanji finally ran out of breath from shouting at the other man for his stupid self-sacrificing act, the cook pulled the swordsman in close to press his lips against his.

/

In this world, there's so much blood.

It's everywhere, painting the cook's clothes with a crimson red. Zoro's light headed and he falls to his knees next to the other man's still body.

Nothing seems real, time seems to stand still, colors are blurring together...

But the bright blue of his eyes stand out in the chaos and Zoro focuses on that. He reaches out to cradle the body to his chest as Sanji coughs up his name.

"Shut up, just shut up," he pleads. "Just shut up and _breathe."_

The cook is quiet but his chest is still.

/

In this world, he's in love.

It's the kind of love that kept him up at night with worries, hopes, and the rapid pounding of his heart. Sanji's dreamed of experiencing this kind of love since he was just a little boy. Dreams of finding the right girl to share his whole life with.

Sanji doesn't love a woman. Sanji loves Zoro.

Sanji loves Zoro with all his heart. He revels in the attention he receives from their small quarrels, he revels in the brief, perhaps accidental, touches that happen between them, he revels in the rush of adrenaline he gets when they fight side-by-side. He basks in the warmth of love even when the pain of rejection stings at his heart.

Zoro doesn't love him.

And as Sanji silently watches Zoro work through his training routine on deck, he briefly wonders if, in another world, they could've been happy together.

* * *

**Note: The last three worlds are meant to be sort of the "canon" One Piece world, each a different version, a different time. The reader is more than welcome to choose which one they prefer to be the real "canon" verse.**


End file.
